Making a Tire Garden

You can watch the video of how we set up the tire garden on YouTube:

How to Make a Tire Garden for Growing Lettuce and Herbs

One thing about gardens is they are great for experimenting. You can try different plant companion combinations, different soil mixes, different containers and methods.

In the last few months, I've departed from the 'rules' of gardening and engaged in free style planting- planting seeds with no thought to placement, season or symbiotic relationships. I'm also disregarding my drip system and spraying the garden beds with a watering wand, soaking the soil and sometimes the young seedlings.

Okra plants in October

So, in the spirit of rebellion, I shrugged off the cautionary tales of tire gardening and embraced the concept of re-using a usually cast-off product. The studies I've read concern themselves with shredded tires for ground cover, that the heavy metals leech into the soil. Well, once the integrity of the tire is destroyed, as in shredded, then yes, leeching is likely imminent.

But even the Environmental Protection Agency says intact tires are fine for garden containers, so Bob and I set one up. Now, we'll see what happens next.

Free Style Gardening Successes

Zucchini with Flower

As of this writing, I've harvested okra and zucchini, Anaheim peppers and jalapeno peppers, cucumbers, herbs and even a few beans. My free style garden is moving along rather well, and if the fall season brings forth its customary good weather here in the valley of the sun, I should have a good harvest.

The success of a garden is measured by its harvest, and in the last couple of seasons, my success has been limited. But I have more hope for this season, and I think our tire garden will add to that success.

Updating Our Aquaponics and Hydroponics

We're in the process of preparing for the upgrade to our aquaponics system. We'll add a larger fish tank and an extra grow bed, as well as reposition the grow beds. It's a long process, but now that the temperatures no longer rise above the 100 degree mark, we can move along at a quicker pace.

We're also looking at updating our approach to hydroponics. We have, traditionally, used buckets and plastic containers for our hydroponics systems, but the systems aren't particularly attractive. If you want hydroponics at your front entrance, for example, a big orange bucket won't cut it. So keep a look out for some of our upcoming experiments in updating the look of hydroponics and of course, for our new aquaponics system.

The All New Square Food Gardening Book and the Free Style Method

Update: I still use this book from time to time, though I don't exactly follow the method. It's still a good book. (2025)

Flowering Cucumber

Recently I purchased Mel Bartholomew's book, "All New Square Food Gardening. A retired

efficiency expert and engineer, Bartholomew saw row gardening as a waste of space and resources. Practices such as thinning seedlings and irrigating whole tracts of soil that weren't planted bothered him, and he set about finding a new way to grow food, herbs, and flowers.

What is Square Foot Gardening

Square foot gardening is built around the idea of planting a 4 foot by 4 foot box that has been divided into 16 squares, each section being 1 square foot in area. The gardener plants a different 'crop' in each square. How many plants are in any given square depends on how far apart the seeds should be planted.

I can plant one cucumber in one square and 16 radishes in another square. According to Mr. Bartholomew, the system allows for a bounty of veggies in a 4 foot by 4 foot bed because nothing takes up more than one square foot.

The idea is brilliant and no doubt very effective, and I'm anxious to give it a try.  Our author tells me to lay down landscape fabric, position the bed on the fabric, and fill it to a 6 inch depth with his special formula soil mix.

There Might Be Some Problems, Though

Okra from Seed

The special formula? One third vermiculite, one third peat moss, and one third blended organic

compost. Basically, this is a potting mix, not soil, and that might be a problem. Here in Phoenix, even in winter, potting mixes dry out incredibly fast. Vermiculite is no match for our dry air and bright sun.

Mr. Bartholomew also says gardeners can water the garden bed with cups of sun-warmed water. Simply leave a bucket of water near the bed and with a small plastic cup, use the water for the garden, watering each square as needed.

Sun-warmed water here may be too hot for potting mix, and I would likely have to water several times a day. A cup of water does not a deep watering make. I think maybe a more climate appropriate watering system may be necessary.

The Free Style Method

But for right now, I'm far less efficient and organized and otherwise square foot. In my last post, I regaled you with tales of tossing seeds about the garden without any sort of pattern or layout in mind. Many of my seeds are past their prime, and many, of course, failed to germinate. That's okay. Some, though, are doing surprisingly well, in spite of the 110+ temperatures.

Bean Plant on the Rise

I've got okra and burgundy beans sprouting up, and tiny hints of jalapeno plants. I've even got some zucchini that just might make it after all. I imagine this is the type of gardening that would cause Mr. Mel Bartholomew to shake his head and mutter something about a lack of efficiency and wasted space and the soil being less than loamy. I imagine he would predict catastrophic failure for this garden.

His (imagined) prediction may be right. Or not. As we move into September and October, though, gardeners in cooler climes are starting to wind down their summer crops, while here in the Valley of the Sun we'll be planting tomatoes and cucumbers alongside spinach and squash- as soon as the day time temps get below 100 degrees. Ah, the sweet cool of Autumn!